JOTW Rock and Roll Trivia Question for January 26, 2009

This performer has won fifteen Grammy Awards, several Emmy Awards, and has sold over 50 million records worldwide. He has appeared on Late Night with David Letterman, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, The Simpsons, and various MTV programs, and has appeared on MTV Video Music Awards shows side by side with the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Flavor Flav. His MTV Unplugged album went platinum. This month he performed at the conclusion of the Macworld Conference & Expo. He once said “Anybody who thinks that war is romantic obviously hasn't gone through one.” Who is he?

Anthony Dominick Benedetto, known to us as Tony Bennett, was born August 3, 1926. He served in the Army in Europe during World War II. He saw significant combat action in France and Germany and participated in the liberation of a Nazi concentration camp near Landsberg. He would later state “Anybody who thinks that war is romantic obviously hasn't gone through one.”

His hit first number one song “Because of You,” which came out in 1951. He was hugely popular in the 1950s (he even has his own network TV show), and to this day is best known for his signature song, “I Left My Heart in San Francisco.” While his style of music would wane during the rock era of the 1960s and 70s, he made a remarkable come back singing the statndards to an entirely new generation. He received the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees' Humanitarian Award and the National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters Award in 2006.

Today, as a singer and a painter, he is a flourishing and financially suvcccessful artist, and still performs to this day.